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Doesn't that make you wonder if they weren't making people/fans happy with Sami being with EJ, with Marlena and John not having Ava come between them? Things being written that at least pleased a big portion of the fan base? I am not saying it is for certain the case, but it makes me wonder since the big decline seems to coincide with some of the things I mentioned.

Doesn't that make you wonder if they weren't making people/fans happy with Sami being with EJ, with Marlena and John not having Ava come between them? Things being written that at least pleased a big portion of the fan base? I am not saying it is for certain the case, but it makes me wonder since the big decline seems to coincide with some of the things I mentioned.

It's hard to tell because of so many s/l going on .... Dena does spread the wealth. Lucas came back and the triangle from hell resumed with Sami in full fledge groveling mode and mood swings galore. Ava entered the Jawn picture, Nicole and EJ started to heat up and EJ becomes her knight in shining armor. The Phillip and John war continues with a missing Paul. Bo covers for Phillip and lies to Hope. Marlena was out of the picture and Sami was hardly seen except to scream and cry and end her relationship with EJ via cell phone. Chloe and Phillip were on the outs enter Morgan and Lucas???, Dr. Dan and Chelsea romance, Victor gets ill, Max and Trent go toe to toe and Stephanie and Max get on plane, train and automobile and land in France. Steve and Kayla and baby Joe - kind of a big yawn. And let's not forget the romance of the summer Elevator SEX.... and Bo and Hope have a wedding for the 5th time.

The thing about Days is that Days is a stand alone Daytime Drama - the other soaps have sister soaps that they either lead into or follow! They have the advantage of block viewers ..... Days IMO since it is now a stand alone has recovered somewhat from losing Passions ....

I'm sure that's a perception that many have but what's interesting about that is that DOOL had its best performance in years relative to its competition in the 6 months immediately preceding Feb. of this year....the period right after Passions left NBC's airwaves.

From its 2007 low in Sep. through Feb. '08, DOOL's total viewership grew at a rate of 6 times faster than soaps-as-a-whole. All Soaps grew 3.7% during that period, much of which was probably seasonal. DOOL's growth was 23.5%!

The first week that Days lost a significant amount of viewers in the 18-49 Demo was the week of May 26-30. And since then it has been downhill.

If you look at the weekly averages, DOOL averaged 1,038,000 viewers in this demo in Feb. That dropped in March to 897,000, almost a 14% drop in 1 month. It was relatively flat from there through May and then started dropping again.

From Feb. until the present, DOOL has lost 32% of its viewers in the 18-49 demo. IMO that's shameful performance for a demo in which DOOL used to be extremely strong in.

You count for us and yourself, but even I am realizing that to advertisers and to the producers we don't matter anymore at all. They could really care less if we watch or not.

The advertisers really need to rethink their key demo groups for daytime. While most of the people I know in the 18-49 age group is struggling financially to pay college tuition and/or mortgages, car payments and tax increases I know a lot of seniors that have the money to buy a new car s with CASH and still hit a couple of cruises before the year is over.

And the older age group are much more loyal, have more time to watch during the day and are usually the key to gaining younger viewers. I started watching soaps with my nanny when I was little. I fell away from soaps when I started school and began watching again the summer my grandmother came to visit. The only thing she really wanted to do with me was watch soaps and fill me in on the back history on every character on AMC. :rockon: She was too polite to ever talk trash about our real relatives so watching AMC was like having a special family album.

The first week that Days lost a significant amount of viewers in the 18-49 Demo was the week of May 26-30. And since then it has been downhill.

If you look at the weekly averages, DOOL averaged 1,038,000 viewers in this demo in Feb. That dropped in March to 897,000, almost a 14% drop in 1 month. It was relatively flat from there through May and then started dropping again.

From Feb. until the present, DOOL has lost 32% of its viewers in the 18-49 demo. IMO that's shameful performance for a demo in which DOOL used to be extremely strong in.

February was Sweeps month - plus Days had a guest star Shirley Jones - plus plus NBC promoted the hell out of it!

I must say they got a better bang for their buck with this storyline (Colleen and John and Airplane crash) than the highly promoted Green Wedding of May 2007 - the ratings saw no increase for that highly promoted wedding!

I think a good point is being made here about older viewers. I've noticed alot of seniors are more active now and actually are coming out of retirement, which never used to be the case. Sure, some did but not like this. The economy is bad so that is likely a reason too and it's also why less woman watch. Some have more then one job and don't even have the time to watch it even if they DVR it so some may not even bother. It seems we always tend to focus on what is on the surface but I tend to think the reason for soaps declining more and more in ratings and demos is more then just the shows simply not giving fans what they want.

It's been mentioned ad nauseum how the ratings only seem to reflect events and gimmicks now and that is because that is the easiest audience to get back. The type of viewer who is just curious and wants to check out something big. That is why they stop watching shortly after...because the event is over. What we are seeing now is each soap has some core fans left. Those are the fans who stay no matter what. The core fans and other fans who were lost are the ones who are hard to come back and let me just say I don't think you can ever get back a majority of them back. That is why I think networks have stopped caring about the numbers. They know more seniors are active and out of the house now. They know some have more then one job or just don't have the time. They know more women are out in the workforce then ever before. Even those who stay home aren't so apt to just stay home anymore. They want to be active and do things. Let's also remember how some seniors have to end up a nursing home. My grandmother is at one right now because she became too ill to come home and she is the one that got me hooked on soaps. Now, she doesn't even watch. She checks out the weekly marathons on Soapnet if she can but that's if she isn't too tired to stay up that late for some of them and if she's not hanging out with one of her friends. You figure if more seniors are in nursing homes or assisted living or what have you, they may be watching in groups or not at all, which drastically affects the numbers.

All the factors I mentioned above are among the things I think are affecting the ratings and have been for years. Steve is right in that viewership is skewed older now but I think alot of that is economy-based. More adults going back to school. Less people home during the day. People working multiple jobs. Also, add in the fact that there are more entertainment choices. There are more channels then ever before. There is just more to it then soaps simply not delivering. I know people who quit watching soaps not because they wanted to but just because they just didn't have the time. They try to catch up when they can but that isn't too often.

When soaps became youth-obsessed, it was during a time when teens would stay home more and that was being proven by data. Now, teens don't like sitting still. They figure they can just tape it or watch it online or something, which leads to another factor. The Internet. If you can watch stuff online, why bother watching it live? That and there are so many spoilers and day to day breakdowns out there, you don't even have to watch.

I think the networks know all this and it's why they no longer panic over ratings, which is why I root for every soap to go up. If they don't care about ratings, how will the ratings going down result in a regime change? Most regime chances now happen because of a falling out more then ratings. Just look at primetime. Ratings are going down for many shows. Hell, the ratings every spring for most everyone the past two years have gone down. Some blame the time change happening in March rather then April because it means more chances to be outdoors and to do more things. Some think people just tend to get busier at that point because winter is over and school is winding down for some. The fact is that the ratings system sucks anyway. While it never has been accurate in terms of measuring quality, it's now outdated to the point where it's love overdue for a major change and not just some tweaks.

I think there are also alot of people who quit watching merely because soaps never evolved. In every decade, soaps have evolved and pushed the envelope to new heights. That has not happened this decade. Soaps aren't modernizing and they need to without losing their identity and the necessary traditional traits fans came to love about soaps.

Now, I still think Higley will be goon soon, as I've said in other threads. The blurb Jonatha posted only furthers to assure me of that prediction. I think Scott just has too much support from Sony and the cast and crew. I also think Corday and Higley are nearing a falling out, if they haven't had one already, which is always the last straw for any writer at Days.

Days was losing in other Demos though before then. They were just increasing in the particular 2 demos that advertisers want. That is the reason they could not get any increases is other demos were going down.

I read on another board from a person who has seen the 50 and over demos that Days has been losing in them all year. Men have been back and forth all year. Girls 12-17 have been up and down.

It just took awhile for those 2 Demos to catch up and Days still does better in the 18-34 and Girls 12-17 than it is doing elsewhere.

The older viewers who have proven to be the most loyal viewers over a period of time are the viewers that Days is losing.

For Women 50+, it is true that their numbers have dropped this year but overall not a lot. This is DOOL's best demo. They have consistently outperformed soaps-as-a-whole for the last year. In fact, they have lost only 1/3 of the older women in the last 6 months that they gained in the 6 months prior to that.

Women 50+ are not DOOL's problem although I still think they should work hard to appeal to that growing demo. DOOL's problem is finding and holding viewers in the demos's that have hurt them badly this year.....Women 18-49 and Men.

I had no idea so many men were soap watchers until I started to look at these numbers. Y&R absolutely dominates this demo along with the Women 50+.

I think the summer of romance has been a bust - where the hell was the romance? Bo and Hope two epi marriage vow renewal??? they didn't even get any bedroom time... Morgan and Phillip have barely touched each other, Stephanie and Max on a train and elevator sex ... that's it????? What about Chloe and Lucas and the Horton cabin, they sort of dropped that unless we get that in a couple of weeks???? Summer is about over!